The Red Strokes
by goldpiece
Summary: Angela is planning a new art exhibit on touch for the Jeffersonian. Very strong T.


A/N: I'm placing this at a strong T. If anyone feels it should be at a higher level, please let me know. I don't think there's anything offensive, or inappropriate in this piece, but if that's how you feel, please let me know, and I'll change the rating. I based this off the lyrics to the Garth Brooks song, 'The Red Strokes'.

Angela had everything set up for her study, the light shining onto the canvas, the video camera set to record, everything was there except for Jack Hodgins. She paced her living room, a room in which she had pushed all the furniture to the walls to make ample space for her equipment. She glanced at the clock and began to play with the tie to her silk robe. _He should be here any minute._ At the knock on the door, she scurried over, opening it to face a slightly stunned Jack Hodgins.

"You aren't dressed? I thought we had a date, or are we staying in tonight?"

"You are going to help me with a new art study," she said after kissing him on the lips. Jack looked around the room; eyebrows raised and returned his gaze to Angela. She shut the door behind him as he entered the apartment.

"So, what exactly is it we're going to do?"

"I'm doing a new exhibit for the Jeffersonian, a study on touch." Jack put his arms around the artist and pulled her close to him.

"And does this study involve us 'touching' each other?"

"Yes, but not in the way you think. Now, strip down to your underwear."

"Wow, you're really bossy tonight. I like it."

"Ugh, Jack, sometimes you can be such a guy. What we're doing does not involve sex, only touching and emotions. The light will reflect our shadows onto the canvas, which is then recorded by the camera. Then, I can replay it and pick the images I want to give the work a much more organic feel."

"So it's like porn, but with shadows."

"What did I just say about the sex?"

"That it wasn't allowed?"

"Exactly. Now, will you please undress?" She watched as Hodgins began to do as she asked, a smirk playing on his lips. Once he was finished, and stood before her in his boxer briefs, Angela stepped behind him and covered his eyes with a blindfold.

"Hey, what's this for?"

"I want you to go on feel alone. Study my curves, learn what my body feels like without your eyesight to guide you." She whispered the words as she moved to stand before him. Tentatively, Jack reached out a hand, stretching it gently until he felt the soft, smoothness of her cheek under his fingers. He allowed a gentle caress before his fingers trailed down her neck and onto her collarbones. The edges of his fingers brushed against the silk of the robe. Angela closed her own eyes and breathed steadily as she concentrated on the sensation of his hands on her skin. His touch left behind a tingling trail, a lingering feel of the effect he had on her.

Hodgins let his fingers follow the cool material of the robe down to the belt. He carefully undid it, and opened the robe at her waist, sliding his hand between her skin and the silk robe, enjoying the contrast in sensations from her soft skin and the coolness of the material.

"This is amazing, Babe." He felt her cover his lips with her fingers.

"Shhh. Don't say anything Jack. Just enjoy the moment," she smiled when he kissed her fingertips. Angela allowed her hand to slip onto his cheek, rubbing gently into the coarse hair of his beard. Her hands wandered down his neck and onto his shoulders, where they rested for just a moment.

Jack slipped his hand around to her back and puller her into him, feeling the silkiness of both the robe and her skin against his chest. With his free hand, he found her hair and stroked through the long, silky strands, bringing them close to his nose to smell the jasmine of her shampoo. Angela wrapped her arms around his neck and tilted back her head as his lips grazed down her neck, the hair of his mustache and beard tickling her skin. She moaned a little as he gave gentle nips to the delicate skin at the base of her throat.

Angela ran her hands down the muscular plane of Hodgin's back, pausing to feel the way his muscles played under his skin. She pulled her hands back up, running her nails lightly over his skin until her hands were buried in the curls of his hair. Jack nuzzled his way back up her neck, enjoying her intake of breath as he reached the pulse point just beyond her ear.

He let go of her back and stroked her skin, grazing along the sides of her breasts. He felt her arch slightly toward him, but fought for his own control. She said this wasn't about sex, so he was going to play by her rules. He traced around her breasts, studying the contours of the soft mounds, pausing at the tightened peaks. His fingers danced higher until they reached her shoulders. His hands under the silk of the robe, Jack slid the garment off her body and onto the floor.

Angela allowed her hands to wander over the toned muscles of his chest, tracing his frame around his pectorals and onto his abdominals, not missing a single curve of his six-pack. As she reached below his belly button and toward the elastic of his underwear, she heard him groan.

"Angela," he murmured before leaning to kiss the soft skin on her shoulder. His hands trailed down her body, reaching her hips. He rubbed soft circles into the small of her back just above the hemline of her lace panties. His hands swept over the roundness of her backside, and he pulled her in closer to him, caressing the skin peeking from under the edge of the lace. She moved her hands back up his body, past his shoulders and neck until they were encased once again in his hair. Jack lowered himself until he was kneeling on the floor, and peppered kisses to her stomach as his arms wrapped around her waist. His forehead against her skin, he allowed his head to move with the rhythm of her quickened breath. Never had he experienced anything so intimate and yet erotic. He felt Angela's fingers stroking through his hair, and he held her tighter, not wanting the moment to end.

XxXxX

Angela stood before her work for the exhibit with the rest of the team. She gripped Hodgins arm tightly as her friends looked over the work. The background was black, and the two…silhouettes merged together, the two separate shades of red wrapping around each other, almost spiraling in the effort to be as connected as possible. Yellows and orange shades burst from the red and radiated out, disappearing into the blackness.

"Angela, this is an incredible piece. You've managed to infuse the work with desire. The two shades of red twining around the way they do, it almost invokes …" Temperance paused, trying to find the right word.

"Intimacy," Booth supplied. Hodgins felt her tighten her grip a little on his arm. He looked at the painting, flushing a little at the knowledge it was based on his experience with Angela.

"It's amazing what one can do in a creative capacity with nothing more than pigmented color and a paint brush." Zack looked at the piece, analyzing the interplay of the colors.

"Zack, art is so much more than just color on canvas. It's what the artist felt at the time it was created. The emotions come out in every brush stroke."

"To feel that kind of intimacy with someone. You're lucky Angela." Temperance glanced at her best friend. Angela met her eyes for a moment before turning her gaze onto Hodgins. As he returned her gaze, she smiled.

"Yes, you're right. I am lucky."


End file.
